Ghosts
by Catherine4
Summary: Adam and Hailey's date night doesn't go quite to plan when they stumble across a violent attack, and Hailey opens up to Adam about what happened on New Years Eve. This story contains a little flirting, a little angst and a lot of Upzek.


_The working title I gave this story was 'Yet another Upzek Oneshot' which pretty much sums up my current Chicago PD fic-writing inspiration. On one hand, I should probably stop writing these standalone stories and concentrate on some of the ongoing series I have, but on the other hand they make me happy. I've been re-watching season 5 and got up to 5x18 at the weekend and it inspired this. I hope you enjoy. I really love this pairing and wish there were more stories about them out there. As always I suck at titles so I stole this one from the episode! Thank you in advance for reading._

* * *

 **Ghosts**

"Stop by my place tonight?"

Hailey closed her locker door and turned to Adam. As casually as she asked the question, they both knew how loaded it was.

Adam smiled as he buttoned up his shirt. "As much as I love nights at your place, and trust me, I do, I want to take you out. On a proper date."

"Adam" Hailey warned, but an embarrassed smile crossed her face that betrayed the tone of her voice.

"Come on. This thing between us, it's not a secret anymore. We don't need to hide. Let me take you to dinner. Somewhere fancy, we'll get dressed up. It will be fun."

"Good luck trying to get a reservation anywhere half-decent on a Friday night."

Adam picked up his wallet and phone and closed his own locker. He stepped towards Hailey, checking no one was coming through the door. It was habit, but just because the rest of the team knew about their relationship now, didn't mean he wanted to rub it in their faces. Hailey's raised eyebrow told him to keep talking. "I have a confession to make. I already have a reservation. Angelo's at 8."

"Oh really?" Despite her better judgement, she draped her arms over Adam's shoulders. "That's a bit presumptuous isn't it?"

Adam shrugged in the nonchalant way he had. "I took a chance." Hailey sighed and lent in for a quick kiss. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

"Only if you're paying."

Adam shook his head and laughed. "You're the one with the Detective's salary."

"That's the deal." Hailey began to pull away but Adam caught hold of her hand.

"Pick you up at 7:30?"

Hailey nodded.

"You've got something to wear? It's a pretty nice place."

Hailey gave him a playful shove. "Please. Contrary to popular belief, there's more than jeans and sweaters in my wardrobe."

* * *

"Wow."

Hailey answered the door in an emerald green satin dress, her wavy hair fell over her shoulders. That was the only word Adam could say before he was rendered speechless. Hailey smiled coyly. "Hey."

Adam was starting to regret turning down Hailey's suggestion of a night in, because seeing her like that, in a figure-hugging dress, was making Adam hot under the collar and all he wanted to do was take it off her again. But he coughed, getting a hold of himself. "You look gorgeous, Hailey."

She smiled. She would never admit it outside this room, but Hailey was quite looking forward to the evening ahead. What girl didn't enjoy being wined and dined by a handsome gentleman? "You don't scrub up too badly yourself."

"Why thank you." Adam wore a navy suit without a tie, and the top button of his shirt was open. "Are you ready to go?"

Hailey grabbed her purse from the side table. "Sure am."

Adam offered her his arm in an exaggerated act of chivalry which made Hailey laugh. "Your chariot awaits." Outside at the curb a taxicab sat, it's engine on and meter running. Adam looked down at Hailey's expression and grinned. "What? I'm not made of money."

His chivalry didn't end there. At the restaurant Adam took Hailey's coat and pulled out the chair for her. She was about to crack a joke about how corny he was being, but the look in his eye made her bite her tongue. He was being deadly serious and Hailey had to admit she was impressed.

"What's the occasion?" she asked as she sat down.

"Do I need one?" Adam picked up the wine menu and flipped it open.

"Yeah, kinda."

"I want to get to know you better. A good, old-fashioned dinner date seemed the perfect way."

Hailey smiled. "You do know me Adam, there's really not much more to share."

Adam looked at her over the top of the leather-bound menu. "I don't believe that for a second. Look, I know it's not easy for you to let someone in, and that's okay. We don't have to talk about the big stuff, we can talk about whatever you want. But I like you Hailey, you know that, is it so wrong that I want to spend some quality time with you?"

"No" Hailey admitted cautiously. She had to admit she was curious to learn more about Adam too. They had spent plenty of time together, especially during the last few months. Hailey knew about what kind of cop he was, she knew nuggets of information about his family and his life growing up, she had even seen the deep feelings that ran underneath his confident exterior once or twice, but there was always more to learn about a person. It surprised Hailey that she wanted to know all there was to know about Adam Ruzek.

"Here" he said, passing the menu to Hailey as he saw the wine waiter approach to take their drinks order. "You choose."

* * *

Outside the restaurant after they'd finished their meal, Adam grabbed Hailey's hand suddenly and ducked into the alley. He pinned her against the brick wall and kissed her, deeply and passionately. They were both pleasantly drunk on expensive Italian wine, and giddy on the relaxing atmosphere of the restaurant and each other's company. Hailey laughed. The gesture, while surprising, was not exactly unwelcome. "What was that for?"

Adam pulled away, a naughty glint in his eye, and said nothing. His lips moved down to Hailey's neck and she closed her eyes.

"You're the kind of boy my mother always warned me about" she said, putting her arms around Adam's neck.

Adam lifted his head and smirked at Hailey. "Oh yeah?" He was flirting hard and it made Hailey go weak at the knees. "What kind of boy is that?"

"Smooth as hell and up to no good." Hailey was flirting right back. This was not the time and definitely not the place but she couldn't help herself. She felt Adam's warm breath on her cheek and her own breathing quickened.

"You think I'm smooth?"

"I'll deny it under oath" she replied, and kissed him back.

There was a crash at the other end of the alleyway and a woman called out. Hailey and Adam were both instantly alert. It was dark, they couldn't see a thing, but as Hailey's eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she thought she saw a figure in shadow but a second later it was gone.

"What was that?" Hailey asked. She let go of Adam and turned towards the noise.

Adam was already reaching into his jacket. "Do you have your gun?" he asked. Hailey nodded. Even when they were not on duty neither of them liked to be without their piece for reasons just like this. They both raced down the alley, shouting to make their presence known.

Hailey turned the light from her phone towards the ground and they saw with horror, but not necessarily shock, that a young woman lay bleeding on the ground. Her face was bloody and her clothes were torn but she was conscious. She was crying and her breath came in short, panicked sobs. Hailey knelt down beside her and cradled her head. There was no sign of the perpetrator, he had already vanished and without any idea of the direction he'd gone there was no point in pursuing. Besides which they were both drunk, if either of them fired their weapons right now Internal Affairs would have a field day.

"Hi" Hailey said, trying to calm the woman down. "I'm Detective Upton, you're safe now, okay? We're the police." Still the woman cried, her eyes darting around in a panic. When she could see that her attacker was gone, her breathing slowed and her crying changed from hysteria to simply shock. Adam handed Hailey his jacket to rest behind the woman's head and Hailey did her best to make her comfortable.

"There's no sign of the attacker" Adam said. He took his cellphone from his pocket. "I'll call it in."

Hailey nodded and turned her attention back to the victim. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Lara. Peters. He just grabbed me on the sidewalk, I couldn't get away."

"It's alright, try to stay calm. Help is on its way. Where does it hurt?"

"My face. My wrist." Lara's voice was strained and she coughed. Hailey noticed bruising begin to appear on her neck. The bastard had choked her.

Hailey took in Lara's torn blouse and run in her stockings and she took a deep breath to try and clear the lump in her throat. "Did he...?" She began. She couldn't say the words, but Lara seemed to understand what she was asking and shook her head.

"No. He was going to. You scared him away."

"Did you see who did this?"

"Not really. He was white I think. He had dark hair. But his face was covered."

"Ok. Just relax. An ambulance is coming." Hailey took the woman's hand in hers. "My name's Hailey. This is Adam. We're both police officers, we'll catch whoever did this to you, don't worry."

Lara nodded and tried to smile and Hailey's heart broke. Adam hung up the phone and crouched beside them. He put his hand on Hailey's back and they shared a look.

Adam saw something in Hailey's eyes that made him stop. There was fear there, and something else, something like understanding as Hailey turned back to the victim on the ground. He made a mental note to check she was ok later, but they could hear sirens in the distance so now wasn't the time.

"I'll go flag them down" Adam said quietly, and he stood up.

"I..." Lara tried to talk again but her voice grew hoarse.

"Don't try to speak" Hailey said.

Lara shook her head, needing to say what she wanted to say. Hailey leaned in closer. "I scratched him" she whispered, her voice going. "On his cheek." A small smile formed on her face, despite everything. "I've watched enough cop shows, I know the deal. There should be DNA."

Hailey brushed the woman's hair from her face. "Good girl" she said. It made Hailey's insides burn with rage. This girl was strong and this had still happened. Hailey looked away as the memories of that New Year's Eve came flooding back. Because she knew what Lara was going through. This had happened to her. "Just hold tight, help is coming."

* * *

Hailey rode to Med in the back of the ambulance with Lara and Adam caught a lift with patrol a few minutes later. In the waiting area of the emergency room, Adam saw Hailey as soon as he entered through the sliding glass doors. It was clear she'd been crying.

Hailey stood up when he reached her and threw her arms around him. She was aware he would have questions about why she was reacting so emotionally, but right now all she needed was comfort. Adam gladly obliged, holding her in his arms.

"How is she?" Adam asked. He kissed the top of her head.

"She's being assessed now. They think she has a fractured wrist and a lot of bruising. They want to keep her in overnight for observation but they think she'll be ok. We got there just in time. It could have been a lot worse."

"Thank god" Adam said quietly. "So, Voight didn't pick up but I called Antonio, he's coming down."

Hailey nodded. She was pretty pleased it wasn't their boss that was showing up but she wouldn't admit that. She knew Antonio would have questions still, but it would be far less intimidating. Ten minutes later, Antonio arrived and the three of them stepped into an empty office to talk.

"What happened?" Antonio asked.

"We disturbed a wannabe rapist, that's what." Adam was angry and he paced the room as he spoke. "The son of a bitch was this close."

"Patrol are on the lookout for anyone matching the description the victim gave. He can't have got far."

"She told me she scratched his face" Hailey said. "There should be DNA."

Antonio nodded. "Great. I'll make sure the doctors take a swab."

"I can tell them" Hailey said. "I want to see Lara anyway."

Antonio sighed and spoke calmly. He took in Hailey and Adam's outfits. Given the location of the incident and the wine on their breaths, it didn't take a genius to work out what was going on. "Hailey, please let me handle it. Trust me." Something in Antonio's expression made Hailey think there was more to her emotional reaction than simply concern for the victim but if that was what he was thinking he didn't say so.

"I just want to help."

Antonio took Hailey firmly by the shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. "I know. But you're drunk, you can't do anything right now. Both of you should go home, I've got this. I'll fill you in on any developments in the morning."

Antonio left the room to touch base with patrol and make some phone calls leaving Hailey and Adam alone.

"I want to do something" Hailey said, but she sounded defeated. Antonio was right. If she or Adam got involved further while they were inebriated it might jeopardise the investigation.

Adam understood. There were many things in life he couldn't abide, sexual violence, or violence of any kind, towards women was one of them. "I know" he said. "But you heard Antonio. If they need us in the morning, we'll be ready. Let me take you home."

* * *

When Adam called the restaurant last week to make the reservation, he had hoped to stay the night at Hailey's afterwards, but back then he thought it would be under very different circumstances.

Hailey kicked off her heels by the door and dumped her purse on the kitchen counter. She was drained, emotionally and physically. She felt a headache coming on and rubbed her temples to try and relieve it.

Adam hovered in the doorway. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No, stay." She didn't have the energy to pretend she was okay, not in front of Adam. "I want you here."

This level of honesty was new for Hailey, so often she tried her hardest to keep her emotions and feelings hidden from the world, and especially from the guys she dated. But there was something about Adam, the gentle look in his eyes and the attentive way he studied her to make sure she was really ok, that made her trust him. Adam opened his arms to her and she stepped into his embrace. They just stood there in the middle of her kitchen hugging silently for a long time. It calmed Hailey, she felt safe.

"Do you want a drink?" Hailey asked eventually.

"No, not really."

Hailey inhaled deeply. "Me neither."

"Come on, let's go sit down." Adam released his grip on her gently and led her through to her livingroom. They sat down on the couch side by side and Hailey put her head on Adam's shoulder and curled up against his body.

Adam looked down at her curiously, trying to decide whether to coax her to talk or let her be. He made a decision. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What?"

"Whatever's on your mind."

Hailey held onto him tighter, as if trying to draw some strength from him. "That poor girl, Adam. I know what it is to feel completely powerless, how terrifying it is."

Adam breathed in sharply. He suspected as much from the way Hailey reacted at the scene and at the hospital, but it still shocked him to hear her say it out loud. "You mean…?"

"Yeah." Hailey squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting the memories to get the best of her. But she wanted to push through, she wanted to tell Adam. She felt it was important to be honest with him, she didn't dwell too long on the reasons why she felt that way. It was instinct. "Do you remember that drug dealer we took down a while back, Booth?"

Adam stared at the framed painting on the wall above Hailey's mantel. He thought that if he looked at her instead his heart would break. "Yeah, I remember. I know you had history with him, from when you were undercover before. Are you telling me he did what I think he did?"

"No, no, he didn't" Hailey said quickly. She guessed that it would be painful for Adam to hear this and wanted to spare him that image straight away. "Not that. He didn't get that far. He would have done though, I know it. Probably would have killed me too but in the end I got away with a bruised face, a swollen eye and a cracked rib. If my partner hadn't pulled him off me that could have been it."

"Hailey, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Hailey checked herself. "I mean, it's not alright, of course it isn't. But _I'm_ alright. It happened a while ago. It's not like I wake up every morning and remember. It was scary, but I survived. I refuse to let that bastard affect my life anymore."

Adam didn't say anything, he just stroked Hailey's hair and held her tighter. He didn't know what to say honestly, there wasn't really anything he could say. He would never truly know what it felt like to be in that situation. It was different for women, he knew that, and he didn't want to patronise Hailey by pretending that he understood what she was feeling.

After a while, Hailey turned her head and smiled at Adam. "I had a really nice night. You know, before… Thank you."

Adam brushed a stray curl off her face. "You're very welcome." Hailey was quiet again and Adam wanted to say something to make her pain just a little bit better, but there wasn't anything he could say or do to help, not really. He decided that all he could do was listen and be there for her, and those were two things he would do until the end of time if she'd let him.

"I can't stop thinking about Lara" Hailey said quietly. He head was back resting on Adam's shoulder and she was starting into space, her mind elsewhere. "I hope she's not alone."

"We'll go and see her first thing in the morning, okay? If you want."

Hailey nodded, but a pained expression crossed her face. "What is wrong with people, Adam? Sometimes it feels like the whole world is going to hell and nothing we do makes any difference."

"Hey. Darlin', come on. You can't think like that. We made a difference tonight. We made a difference to Lara. Sometimes that has to be enough. We see the very worst of human nature in this job we do, but there are good people out there. There are."

A tear fell down Hailey's cheek but she didn't wipe it away, it seemed futile. She smiled sadly at Adam. He was being so kind and caring, and just the right amount of tough to stop Hailey from tumbling down a spiral of despair. "I know" she said, moving closer to Adam so she could put her hands on his chest. "There's one right here."

Adam turned away, uncomfortable with the compliment. He didn't feel like he deserved it. He tried to be good, but he felt like he fell short in a hundred tiny ways every day. He wanted to be the person Hailey saw him to be. All he could do was try his best.

There was a smudge of makeup on Hailey's cheek where her tears had left marks down her cheek and Adam wiped it away with his thumb. He looked into her beautiful blue eyes and it hit him, not for the first time, how much he cared for this woman. He wanted badly to say three little words, but he didn't want to scare Hailey away. He knew she wasn't ready to hear them, but Adam saw in her a change for the better in her feelings towards him and it gave him hope. She'd stopped insisting their relationship was just a fling, she'd stopped fighting what was developing between them. But still, she wasn't ready to _that_ step, not by a long way. But that was okay with Adam. He'd wait, he'd wait for as long as he needed to.

Adam's kiss when it came was gentle and sweet and it was exactly what Hailey needed to be reminded that some things in life were good. She was usually so good at finding the positives in even the most difficult case, but sometimes that was harder than she thought it would be.

"Will you stay the night?" she asked when they pulled apart. "I don't really want to be alone."

"Of course" Adam said without hesitation. He couldn't say 'I love you' but that he could do.

* * *

It was early when Hailey walked onto the ward. The night shift was just coming off duty and handing over to their day time counterparts who would be manning the ward for the next 12 hours. She had to flash her badge to get past the ward sister. Visiting time was hours away yet, but Hailey couldn't wait that long.

She'd awoken to the sound of her phone buzzing on the nightstand and answered the call from a tired sounding Antonio on the other end of the line. "They found him" he said. "I thought you'd like to know. He tried to attack another woman around 2am when the clubs kicked out, but was caught red handed by a bouncer. It's the same guy, DNA proves it. They'll lock him up, he won't have the chance to hurt anyone else for a long time."

Hailey held it together long enough to thank Dawson calmly, but after she had ended the call and put her phone back down, she let out a sigh of relief. A small sob escaped her mouth, it was enough to wake Adam who was lying in the bed beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and she nodded, turning to him.

"That was Dawson. They caught the guy, the guy who hurt Lara."

Adam put his arms around Hailey's waist from behind and kissed the side of her head. "That's fantastic" he said. Hailey only smiled.

Apart from the fact that the arrest had taken a violent and dangerous man off the city streets, the news was welcome to Hailey for another reason. She had hardly slept that night for thinking about what had happened and her own attack. As long as the man was out there, she didn't think she'd be able to think about anything else. But he was caught, and Hailey had been filled with an enormous sense of relief when Antonio told her. She'd jumped out of bed in a flash and they had been out the door 15 minutes later on their way to Med.

Hailey knocked on the glass door to Lara's side room. The blinds were open and Hailey could see she was already awake and sitting up in bed. In the light of day, she looked a lot younger than Hailey had thought the night before. She couldn't have been much older than 23 or 24. She had her arm in a cast and stitches above her eye, and the bruises on her face and neck had darkened overnight. But she looked ok, she really did. Or if not ok yet, the promise that she would be soon. She was strong. Most women were.

"Can I come in?" Hailey asked when she opened the door. "I don't know if you remember me."

"Of course I do" Lara said. Her smile was filled with gratitude. "You're Hailey, right? You found me last night?"

"That's right." Still Hailey stood in the doorway. She wouldn't come in without permission, she wouldn't invade this girl's personal space without consent, she'd had more than enough of that already.

"Come in" Lara said, and Hailey obliged. "Did you hear? They caught the guy who hurt me."

Hailey smiled back. "I did. We'll make sure he pays for what he did, don't worry about that."

"Thank you" Lara said. "For what you did. I don't want to think about what might have happened if you hadn't come along."

Hailey pulled up the chair next to the bed and sat down. "Don't mention it, anyone would have done the same. How are you feeling?"

"Sore. But I'll live. I'm sorry I wrecked your date." There was a slyglint in Lara's eye. It made Hailey happy to know her spirit hadn't been broken by what happened and she laughed. "You weren't on duty were you?"

"No. It would be pretty hard to hunt down criminals in an evening dress."

"That other cop who was with you, is he your boyfriend?"

Hailey paused. Was he? Is that what they were now? But she didn't have the energy to analyse their relationship right now so she answered simply. "Yes."

"Is he here? I'd like to thank him too."

"He's outside in the car. We've got to head into work pretty soon, but I wanted to check on you first. I'm glad you're doing okay."

After she'd left Lara's room Hailey rode the elevator back down to the ground floor. She wasn't sure whether it was relief that another criminal had been taken off the streets, relief that Lara was okay, or whether this feeling was the result of opening up to Adam about what had happened to her, but despite how exhausted she was, she felt lighter.

Adam looked up from his phone as Hailey climbed into the driver's seat. He too saw that Hailey looked less troubled and he was glad about it.

"Lara's okay?" he asked.

Hailey nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"I could use some coffee first."

Hailey smiled. "Deal." She buckled up and was about to turn the key in the ignition when Adam caught her hand.

"I'm proud of you" he said. "This can't have been easy."

Hailey gave his hand a squeeze. "It was easier with you here."

Admitting that was hard for Hailey, It felt strange but it was the truth and the happy expression on Adam's face was enough to make Hailey glad she'd said it. She was done being frightened of her ghosts and done being frightened of her feelings. She would get on with her day and get on with her life.

When they stopped at traffic lights halfway to the district, Hailey looked over at Adam. "Hey, next time I'll pick the restaurant ok?"

"There'll be a next time?" Adam didn't attempt to hide his happiness.

Hailey only respomded with a smile as the light's changed and she pulled away into the stream of traffic.


End file.
